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BERKELEY – The No. 9 Golden Bears are on the road this week at the NCAA Qualifiers at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. at 10 a.m. PT on Thursday. The Bears are looking to return to the NCAA Championships, which they missed out on in 2013, and will be doing battle with No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Illinois, No. 8 Iowa and No. 12 William & Mary. The Bears have met Stanford six times thus far in 2014, having defeated them once, their second meeting with Oklahoma and this will be the first meeting of the season for Cal against Illinois, Iowa and William & Mary. The top three teams out of each of the two sessions will qualify for the NCAA Championships to be held on Friday night. Fans can watch a livestream of the meet on NCAA Live.

Log OnFans are encouraged to follow along live on Twitter @CalMensGym, or look for updates and photos on Facebook at Facebook.com/CalMGym, and log on to CalBears.com for a full meet recap.

2014 Team CaptainsRedshirt senior Donothan Bailey and junior Jonathan Liu have been selected as California’s captains for the 2014 season.

Bears Place Third in MPSFThe California Golden Bears placed third in the MPSF Championships with a score of 427.150, defeating the tenth-ranked Air Force Falcons (425.650), and falling to No. 4 Stanford (436.700) and No. 1 Oklahoma (446.100) in Norman, Okla. on March 29. The Bears were led by redshirt senior and Nissen-Emery Award finalist Donothan Bailey, who won the conference title on pommel horse with a 14.900 on the apparatus. He also finished third in the all-around competition with a total score of 86.700. Sophomore Kyle Zemeir was also a key component of the Bears’ success, placing second in the all-around, besting his teammate with a career-best score of 87.500.

Bailey Named Nissen-Emery Award FinalistThe College Gymnastics Association announced in March that California redshirt senior Donothan Bailey is one of nine finalists for the Nissen-Emery Award, which is considered to be the Heisman Trophy of collegiate gymnastics. Bailey is looking to become the first Golden Bear in school history to win the award. Bailey has been an integral part of the No. 9 Bears’ success this season, in which they have set numerous school records. An Integrative Biology major with a 3.43 grade point average, the team co-captain has personal collegiate bests in all events 15.200 and over, won the 2014 MPSF Championship for pommel horse, was a fifth place finisher at the 2013 USA Championships on pommel horse and represented the United States on their senior national team at the Pan-American Games in 2011, where the US finished third in team competition. The highest honor in collegiate gymnastics, the Nissen-Emery award has been presented annually since 1966 to an outstanding senior collegiate gymnast based on his achievement, sportsmanship and academic excellence.

Zemeir in the ZoneSophomore Kyle Zemeir was once again fantastic on Saturday, March 29. Zemeir competed in in the all-around, posting a career-best score of 87.500. The Ellicott City, Md. native posted a 15.150 on floor exercise, a 15.100 on parallel bars, a 14.700 on still rings and a 14.500 on vault.

MPSF StrengthThough 2013’s national champion hailed from the Big Ten (No. 2 Michigan), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation boasts four of the top teams in the country. Oklahoma finished as runners up last year, and come in ranked first in this week’s GymInfo poll, while, Stanford is fourth. Cal comes in at number nine, while Air Force ranks tenth. The Golden Bears finished third in the MPSF in 2014.

Youth MovementThe 2014 edition of the California Golden Bears has one common theme throughout the composition of the roster, youth. Co-captain Donothan Bailey (redshirt senior), Jeffrey Langenstein (redshirt senior), Christian Monteclaro (redshirt senior) and co-captain Jonathan Liu (junior) are the only upper-classmen, as the Bears’ roster is made up of 14 sophomores and freshman (ten sophomores and four freshman).